The present invention is directed to a composition for combatting body malodor, in stick or gel form, having an active ingredient (for example, an active deodorant material, an active antiperspirant material, etc.) incorporated therein. The composition of the present invention can be used to combat body malodor, e.g., in axillary regions of the human body, by applying the composition to the human body (e.g., to the skin, in axillary regions of the body).
The present invention is particularly directed to antiperspirant compositions in stick or gel form. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a gel or stick composition including a gelling agent, and having an active ingredient (for example, an active antiperspirant material) incorporated therein, especially wherein the gelling agent is stable even in the presence of acidic active antiperspirant materials. The present composition can, preferably, be translucent or clear, but need not be translucent or clear (that is, it can be opaque). Compositions according to the present invention can even be white-opaque as is conventional antiperspirant stick compositions, using, for example, a waxy substance such as stearyl alcohol for the antiperspirant stick.
Antiperspirant products are well known in the art. Antiperspirant products have appeared in the marketplace in various dosage forms, such as sticks, gels, roll-ons, aerosols and creams. Generally, these dosage forms include a solution of the active ingredient in a suitable solvent, a suspension of the active ingredient in a non-solvent, or a multiphasic dispersion or emulsion in which a solution of the active ingredient is dispersed in some continuous phase or in which the solubilized active ingredient constitutes the continuous phase.
The stick form has become the dominant antiperspirant dosage form in the United States market, constituting more than 50% of total antiperspirant sales, and is popular to varying degrees globally. Cosmetically acceptable antiperspirant sticks typically consist of a suspension of spray-dried active antiperspirant material in vehicles such as cyclomethicone, with a waxy substance such as stearyl alcohol, alone or in combination with castor wax, gelling or thickening the suspension sufficiently to create a suitable stick.
The stick form can be distinguished from a gel or a paste in that in a stick, the formulated product can maintain its shape for extended time periods outside the package, the product not losing its shape significantly (allowing for some shrinkage due to solvent evaporation). One can adjust the amount of stearyl alcohol and castor wax and modify the manufacturing process to effect formation of a viscous gel or paste in place of the stick. Alternative gelling or thickening agents such as the bentones, fumed silica or polyethylene can be used in place of the wax to form the gel or paste. These gels or pastes can be suitably packaged in containers which have the appearance of a stick, but which dispense through apertures on the top surface of the package. These products have been called soft sticks or "smooth-ons". Hereinafter, these soft sticks are generically called "gels". Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,656 to Kasat, No. 5,069,897 to Orr, and No. 4,937,069 to Shin, each of which disclose such gels, including physical characteristics thereof such as viscosity and hardness. The contents of each of these three U.S. patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The hard stick dosage form (hereinafter called "sticks"), although widely accepted by the consumer, suffers from leaving a white residue on skin after application, and can cause staining of fabric, which is considered to be undesirable, particularly by female consumers. The gel dosage form can be formulated to eliminate the white residue; however, the product appears initially as white and opaque, requiring consumer education and trial to fully appreciate the low-residue property. Furthermore, in gels of this type, the active ingredient is suspended in a vehicle such as cyclomethicone; in such suspensions, syneresis and creeping of the liquid is a common problem, resulting in instability of the formula or poor aesthetic properties, particularly when shipping product in warm climates and/or at high altitudes.
Illustratively, U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,465 to Kaufman, et al discloses a clear, transparent oil-in-water gel emulsion for cosmetic purposes. The emulsion disclosed therein includes water, an ester of a lower monohydric alcohol and a fatty acid, a higher fatty acid alkylolamide, polyoxyethylene ethers of higher aliphatic alcohols, and/or polyoxyethylene esters of higher fatty acids, and a compound selected from the group consisting of esters of polyhydric alcohols, such esters of polyhydric alcohol having at least one free hydroxyl group and at least one esterified fatty acid group. This patent discloses that the emulsions can include various cosmetic adjuvants including bactericides such as hexachlorophene.
Recently, there has been significant activity in developing clear and translucent antiperspirant sticks and gels. Clear or translucent antiperspirant sticks consisting essentially of a solution of the active antiperspirant material in a polyhydric alcohol vehicle, gelled by dibenzylidene monosorbitol acetal, have been disclosed. Since the gelling agent is inherently unstable in an acidic environment, and since conventional active antiperspirant materials are acidic, much work has been involved in discovering suitable stabilizing or buffering agents to prevent or slow down acid attack on the acetal gelling agent. Such work has not been completely successful. Moreover, these clear or translucent antiperspirant sticks, containing the acetal gelling agent and including a solubilized active antiperspirant material, have the disadvantage of being inherently tacky. Thus, development work in connection with these clear or translucent antiperspirant sticks containing the acetal gelling agent has focused on discovering suitable anti-tack agents for this dosage form. However, since acid hydrolysis of the gelling agent occurs more rapidly in aqueous solutions, formulators have been forced to avoid using water in the formulations. This severely restricts the ability of the formulator to develop cosmetically elegant formulations which are simultaneously chemically stable, optically clear, low in tack, low in residue and which have acceptable application aesthetics.
Clear and translucent antiperspirant gels (which have been dispensed from containers having the appearance of a stick) have been marketed, consisting of viscous, high internal phase emulsions. These gels exhibit some advantages over the aforementioned acetal-based clear sticks, in that the selection of formulation ingredients is less restricted (for example, water can be used), and often tack can be reduced significantly. But these emulsions still suffer from the disadvantages of feeling cool to the skin upon application, and often require the use of ethanol, which has negative environmental regulatory implications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,721 to Beck, et al discloses a polar solvent-free antiperspirant composition including specific amounts of at least one particulate cellulose ether polymer, at least one active antiperspirant material, and at least one anhydrous antiperspirant carrier. This patent discloses that the composition has a reduced tendency to sting the user since it is free of polar solvent. The composition, in stick form, includes waxy materials, and also includes an inert spherical particulate material having a mean diameter of at least about 10 microns and being essentially free of particulates having diameters greater than about 150 microns. These inert particulate materials include those comprised of polyolefins, nylon, "Teflon", insoluble cross-linked starches, and mixtures thereof.
The disclosed antiperspirant compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,721 do not avoid the above-discussed problems in connection with prior known compositions, including, e.g., the residue problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,054 to Sebag, et al discloses unsaturated polyanionic polyamides which can be used as body deodorants or as room deodorizers. The polyamides disclosed are salts of polyanionic polyamides, which can act as odor absorbers from human perspiration. This patent discloses that compositions containing at least one of the polyanionic polyamide compounds can be used in the form of, e.g., aqueous or aqueous-alcoholic solutions, emulsions, sticks, powders, creams, aerosols, gels or solid cakes.
Although disclosing incorporation of specific polyanionic polyamide salts in deodorants as odor absorbers, this patent does not each now to avoid previously discussed problems arising in known stick or gel compositions, in connection with stick or gel antiperspirant compositions, in connection with the gelling agents. This patent does not disclose use of the polyanionic polyamides as gelling agents, to cause gelation of the compositions into gels or sticks.
International (Published) Patent Application No. WO93/24105 discloses a topical antiperspirant composition consisting essentially of a non-toxic water-insoluble occlusive film-forming antiperspirant polymer as the antiperspirant active agent, so that an antiperspirant composition with reduced amounts of aluminum (or other metal) antiperspirant material can be achieved. The antiperspirant polymer can be an alkyl olefinic acid amide/olefinic acid or ester copolymer alone or in combination with a water-repellent polymer or a PVP/linear alpha-olefin copolymer; or an octylacrylamide or propenamide/acrylate copolymer alone or with a PVP/linear alpha-olefin copolymer or a PVP/Eicosene copolymer, among others. The topical antiperspirant can be in stick form; various examples show use of stearyl alcohol and/or sodium stearate as gelling/thickening agents for forming the topical antiperspirant in stick form.
This International Published Patent Application discloses the polymer (copolymer) as the antiperspirant active agent, and, in the composition in stick form, does not disclose that the polymer is a gelling/thickening agent. Other components of the composition in stick form act as the gelling/thickening agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,705 to Miller discloses transparent combustible material suitable for candle bodies, including a mineral oil and/or a natural oil as a gel base; a polyamide resin as the gelling agent; and an 8-,10- or 12- carbon primary alcohol, the primary alcohol being necessary so that the gel system burns with a satisfactory flame, and to avoid a greasy appearance and feel of the material. This patent. discloses that the polyamide, which serves to gel the oil, can be one of a number of long-chain linear amide resin polymers derived from the reaction of dimerized linoleic acid with di- or polyamines, the polyamides useful for forming the material for the candle body being those having molecular weight in the range of 6,000-9,000. This patent discloses that a preferred polyamide is available commercially as a product of General Mills, sold under the trade name "Versamid" 940. The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,705 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,705 is concerned with providing candle body material, which achieves a desired flame and avoids a greasy appearance and feel. This disclosure, directed to a candle body, does not address the problems addressed by the present invention (for example, providing a gel or stick composition having good pay-off and aesthetic characteristics, and good stability in the presence of acidic active antiperspirant materials, yet which is low in residue).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,125 to Strianse, et al discloses cosmetic lipsticks which, besides carrying color for staining the lips and a vehicle for the color, have a body sufficiently strong and stable to permit its use as an applicator yet capable of rubbing off onto the lips a film adapted to color and protect the lips and to leave an attractive well-groomed appearance. The lipsticks utilize soluble or solubilized dyes, and are free from all opaque materials. The patent discloses that the structural aspects of the lipstick are based upon solid polyamide resin, which is a solid but soluble condensation product of an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid and a diamine, the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent monounits being condensed to an amide linkage in the polymer. This patent discloses that the polyamide resin should be modified to have good properties as a lipstick by compounding with softening agents, such as polyamide solvents of the type exemplified by lower aliphatic alcohols in combination with other polyamide solvents, such as fatty acid esters, e.g., glycol esters or higher fatty acids (especially between C.sub.12 and C.sub.18), especially propylene glycol mono laurate, polyethylene glycol (400) mono laurate, castor oil, lauryl lactate, and fatty alcohols, e.g., oleyl alcohol. This patent discloses that oil-soluble dyes can be used directly, because of the oily nature of the vehicle; but that hydrophilic dyes can also be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,125 is concerned solely with cosmetic lipsticks, carrying color for staining the lips. This patent does not disclose stable deodorant sticks and/or gels, such as antiperspirant sticks and/or gels, particularly which are stable in the presence of acidic active antiperspirant materials. Moreover, this patent is concerned with leaving a color residue on the lips, and is not concerned with a low-residue stick or gel composition to be applied, for example, to axillary regions of the skin.
Accordingly, there is still a need for providing a stable deodorant or antiperspirant stick and/or gel, for example, an antiperspirant stick or gel, which delivers the promise of a low residue benefit to the consumer in a meaningful and unencumbered way; which can be either clear, translucent or opaque; which provides good flexibility to the formulator in developing cosmetically acceptable dosage forms; and which does not exhibit excessive syneresis.